Playtime was over and it was time to get down to business.
Leo sat on the wooden flooring in his mother's room along with her and Leya by the fireplace. They had hot cups of coffee in their hands and the mood was surprisingly serious.
"Mom, Leya, please listen carefully to what I'm about to say," Leo said and took a sip of hot coffee.
The two ladies nodded their heads and looked at him.
Leo put the cup down and took a deep breath. The words he was going to say next did not have any evidence to back them, and making his family believe it wasn't the hard part, but avoiding the question of how he knew all of it was. Still, for the sake of them, he had to speak up.
"Firstly… Leya… I want you to stop practicing any arts you have from the Ignis Family."
"Hm?" Leya put her cup down and looked at Leo with raised eyebrows. "Why do you say that?"
Instead of answering her, Leo turned to look at Anne. "Mom, have you ever wondered why…"
Leo showed his skinny, pale hand to the two.
"…all of your kids have turned out to be so unhealthy?"
"Oh Leo…" Anne felt her chest tighten. Leo had touched one of her sore spots. Her lips curved down and she said with a hint of sadness, "It's because of me—"
"No," Leo immediately cut her off. He knew what she was going to say. She had said the same things in the past as well. "It's not that. Stop thinking it's your fault."
Anne felt strange hearing that. How did her child know what she was going to say?
"The reason why me, Leya, and Lisa are all weak is because of the Ignis," Leo didn't keep them in suspense and answered. "Their arts are not suitable for us, and among us three, Lisa is the healthiest because she did not bother practicing it from the start."
"Huh?" Leya was taken aback. "The Ignis Family's arts?"
Anne frowned and sipped some coffee, her eyes locked onto Leo's. She did not interrupt and patiently waited to hear more on this.
"Yes, the Ignis Family's arts," repeated Leo. "Our constitution is different, and so is our bloodline. Plus, aren't our paths different too? Those guys are walking on fire related paths due to their Fire Dragon bloodline. But us? We aren't even remotely close to the Fire Essence."
It took him a long time to come to this realization. By the time he did, everything was over. Thus, he was now trying to uproot the problem from its very core.
Anne felt something amiss. She put the coffee cup down and asked, "How do you know?"
Her Leo had changed. Not physically, but mentally. A few days ago in her office, he began crying out of nowhere, and then his mental maturity flipped completely. She still couldn't figure out how he seemed so mature for his age and turned out to be so observant and intelligent.
There was still a lot of childishness left in him, but there was an added depth of wisdom and maturity which was not normal for someone his age.
Anne would've thought of him as an imposter, but she could quite literally feel that he was her own flesh and blood. Plus, he knew of certain information that no one else but him would know of.
Her question made Leo shift his gaze to her. He was aware of her worries and thoughts, but unfortunately, he couldn't tell her the truth yet. Things would get really problematic if he did.
"My constellation told me," Leo answered swiftly. He had already thought of all the questions he may get asked, and answers ready for them.
[The constellation 'Ruler of Six Paths' doesn't remember saying anything.]
[The constellation 'Wings of Inquisition' states that one shouldn't lie to their mother.]
[The constellation 'Void Emperor' greets the seniors.]
[The constellation 'Tranquil Moon' greets the seniors.]
Talking about his constellation would result in them being alerted and start listening to the conversation. Leo didn't have any intention to summon his constellation, but he also had no other choice.
The system messages were heard only by him. He shared the same authority as the Administrator, so he could block the messages from reaching others on his planet at his will. If it wasn't the case, he would've been in serious trouble for lying.
[The constellation 'Wings of Inquisition' returns the greeting and states that they aren't a senior.]
[The constellation 'Ruler of Six Paths' sips tea and indifferently looks at the two juniors.]
[The constellations 'Void Emperor' and 'Tranquil Moon' are wiping the sweat on their foreheads.]
Leo muted the constellation messages for a while and focused on the conversation at hand. He did not want any distractions.
"I see," Anne said thoughtfully. It was no surprise if such was the case. A constellation looked after its incarnation and acted as a guide in their cultivation and magic journey. Helping an incarnation was helping themselves as later down the line, there were many things an incarnation was needed for.
As they were a guide, they had to be chosen carefully. A wrong guide could put you on the wrong path, and one would suffer throughout their life. Generally, constellations chose incarnations that were on the same path, but there were always exceptions to it, like how Leo's case was.
He pursued the Time Path, but his constellation was a mighty being of the Reincarnation Path. Despite being unaware of this information, Anne believed in Leo as the constellations were some really knowledgeable beings and usually did things for the benefits of their incarnations.
Leo took a sip of coffee and continued, "Please stop practicing those arts. Other than that, I have something important to ask you, mom."
"What is it, my dear?" Anne put her coffee cup down and asked.
"What do you think of the Ignis? Patrick, especially."
Anne and Leya both raised their eyebrows at that.
"Where is this coming from?" Anne asked, unsure of how she should answer.
"Are you planning to kill Patrick or something?" Leya asked with an amused smile.
Patrick was the name of their father. Although he was supposedly their father, nobody considered him as such. The children knew that their mother had married him just on papers and there was barely any relation between them.
Due to magic, technology in the medical field had advanced exponentially with artificial insemination gaining a lot of popularity. Women from the North disliked having a man as their partner, and were the ones that had spent exorbitant amounts of time in the research and development of assisted reproductive technology.
From the start of the Boverian Calendar, these new methods were readily available. Anne had used something similar, and thus had no relations with Patrick, other than being called his wife.
Leo and his sisters were aware of these things, and held no good feelings towards their father, only resentment.
Patrick had consistently tried to display that he was the boss of the house, and was suppressed by his mother every single time. His only motto in life was to crush his mother and put her in her place, and in the past life, he had almost succeeded in doing everything he wanted to do.
Leo was still young then, and had to watch his mother barely manage to escape this vile man's clutches.
In this life, neither Patrick nor anyone related to him was going to survive. Leo did not know his own future, but these guys' futures were sealed. They won't make it past this decade, that was an absolute surety.
Leo took a sip of coffee and said calmly while glancing at his sister, "I am. Any objections?"
Leya put her cup down and looked at their mother with a stupendous gaze, as if she had just seen something odd.
"Do you see the change in this brat, mom? He seems so different from before."
Anne visibly sighed and shook her head.
"Tell me about it…"
Even she had no idea what caused such a change in her boy. All she knew was that he was her own boy, and this was the only thing keeping her sane.
Leo knew that confidently speaking would result in his mother and sisters finding things suspicious. However, it wasn't a bother as he had complete faith in them. He knew they would accept things easily despite it being somewhat odd. They loved him a little too much, and their rational brain would refuse to connect the dots and think about all the suspicious things.
The porcelain cup made a clinking sound as Leo put it down. He reached for the brass poker beside the hearth and prodded the smoldering logs, coaxing the flames to rise and burn more brightly.
"Mom, you still haven't answered. What do you think of the Ignis?"
The fire crackled in response to Leo's actions, casting a warm, dancing light across everyone's faces.
Anne stared at the fire, particularly at the whips and lashes of the orangish flames. "Their background is strong. They aren't the nicest of people, so I keep a distance."
Leo turned to stare at her, his eyes reflecting the brightly burning fire.
"I am going to burn them down. Most of them."
Anne frowned and stared at her son for a few seconds.
Leo didn't speak either and the two had their eyes locked.
Leya felt stressed in this tense atmosphere and wanted to intervene to resolve the situation, but decided against it and nervously sipped her coffee.
"It won't be easy."
"I know."
Anne continued to stare seriously. "You could die. You would be hurt. I can't see you suffer through this misery. I'm against this."
The surroundings tensed up further, making Leya gulp a mouthful of nervous saliva. She did not know why, but the stare down between her mother and brother looked like two apex predators staring at each other, about to duke it out.
The love of a mother and the revenge of a regressor clashed, creating serious tension.
Leo knew his mother worked on proof. She never took any gambles and always made the decisions after verifying several things herself.
So now, the problem lay in him having no resources or strength to prove to her that he was capable enough to go against them. If he could give her some proof, she would not contend against this so strongly.
While staring at her, Leo racked his brains on what he could do.
A minute later, an idea surfaced in his mind.
Leo broke the eye contact and calmly shook his head. He lowered his gaze and stared at the coffee. Taking a deep breath, he slowly muttered,
"I swear upon the heav—"
Anne's eyes widened as she realized what her son was about to do. She threw her coffee to the side and dashed at him.
"LEO!"
Slap—!